


Star Trek: New Horizons, Episode One

by springhorton



Series: I Am Hugh [4]
Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Epic Bromance, Fenris Rangers, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, The Borg, dance parties and karaoke on the Artifact, lots and lots, new home, of hurt/comfort, the xbs finally get some happiness, the xbs get their own show, xBs (Star Trek)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/springhorton/pseuds/springhorton
Summary: Starting where All of Me left off, Hugh, Sekis, and Elnor return to the Artifact to join Seven of Nine and the xBs in an epic search to find a new home. Along the way, they'll be met with, internal strife as the xBs struggle to build a cultural identity, bigotry and fear across the universe, Romulan assassins who want their property back, and lots of other dangers and adventures. Along the way, though, they'll also make new friends, and maybe just meet up with some old ones.
Relationships: Hugh | Third of Five/Original Character(s)
Series: I Am Hugh [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630657
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Star Trek: New Horizons, Episode One

Borg Scout ships were basically smaller versions of their mother Cubes, designed for five Drones from the same unimatrix. They were practically autonomous, though they did have flight and navigation controls. Other than that, there wasn’t much beyond Borg regeneration alcoves and a transporter pad. None of the Scout ships on the Artifact had been used since the Romulans took over, their upkeep not being a priority, so it was only a hesitantly welcome sight to Hugh, Sekis, and Elnor when they beamed aboard. 

Hugh hadn’t been on the inside of a Scout ship in a very long time. He hadn’t even realized any of them were in working order. The Romulans had systematically pulled apart all of the technology on the Artifact, ensuring that it couldn’t be used again. As his matter stream finished coalescing, he blinked in the dimness, having gotten used to Nepenthe’s sunlight. Then he tilted his head and glanced around curiously. At first, the ship looked empty, but then he noticed a large, dark skinned man sitting at the flight controls. 

“Max?” he said, stepping off the transporter pad and laughing quietly. 

“Mister Director,” the large man answered, returning the good-natured smile. It was hampered slightly by a large metal implant in his left cheek. 

“I’m glad you made it, my friend,” Hugh said and they both knew he was talking about the Romulan’s rampage. 

Sekis and Elnor hesitantly walked through the small ship, taking in the unaltered Borg technology with wary eyes. 

“Bit cramped,” Sekis quipped. 

Hugh turned and nodded. “You could always stand in one of the alcoves,” he said with a grin. 

“Very funny,” his boyfriend mumbled. 

While Elnor looked the alcoves over, curiously, Sekis stepped up behind Hugh and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“This is Max,” Hugh said, gesturing toward their pilot. “Max, this is Doctor Drax.” 

Max glanced up, straining his neck to see Sekis with his remaining eye. “I’ve seen you around. You work with the Ferasans, right?” 

“Yes, that’s right.” 

“They were a big help fighting off the Romulans. Those teeth come in handy.” 

Hugh felt his heart drop. “How are things on the Artifact?” he asked quietly, trying to keep his voice even. 

“Not great,” Max admitted. 

“I take it Annika let you go, though?” Hugh asked. “I was worried about what might happen.” 

Max nodded. “It’s caused a lot of confusion, though. It was tough for a lot of us to be thrown back into a Collective and then ripped out again.” He saw Hugh’s wince of regret and added, “We were all glad to hear you were still alive, though. We need your guidance now.” 

Hugh smiled, fighting back tears. He put a hand on Max’s shoulder and felt Sekis squeezing his own. Nothing else was said and he had the horrible feeling that Max couldn’t bring himself to give him any more bad news. So, he and Sekis settled in for a long, uncomfortable ride, huddled together on the floor, while Elnor sat quietly, next to Max. 

Nothing in Hugh’s imagination could prepare him for the reality, though. Half a day later, he heard Elnor let out a gasp and then the young Romulan mumbled something in disgusted anger. Hugh scrambled to his feet, leaving Sekis to slowly unhinge from his stiff position before joining him. Hugh squeezed between the control consoles and peered out the viewscreen. He could make out the Artifact, just a small cube in the distance, but there was something else floating in space between them, a lot of somethings. One of them drew near and almost hit the viewscreen before Max adjusted their course. As they passed the object by, Hugh let out a cry of horror and stumbled backward. 

“What is it?” Sekis asked, catching his boyfriend before he could fall. 

“Borg,” Hugh managed to force out. “Hundreds of Borg.” 

Sekis moved with him back to the front of the Scout ship and looked out at the stars beyond. “My god,” he whispered. 

“What happened?” Hugh demanded, his voice becoming high and emotional. 

“The Tal Shiar woman did this, as Seven of Nine was waking them up,” Max answered, his own voice hard. “She vented them into space, all the ones that were still assimilated.” 

Hugh shook his head, violently, like his brain refused to accept it. He’d known cruelty, a lot of it, but surely no one was that callous. “No,” he whispered, tears spilling from his eyes. “It’s not right...she can’t-” He started as Sekis grabbed his shoulders and turned him away from the sight. 

“Hugh,” the man said gently. 

The xB wasn’t to be consoled this time, though. “No, we have to do something! How long has it been?” 

“What?” 

“How long?” he yelled. 

Suddenly, a green light flashed outside the ship and one of the floating Drones disappeared. 

“We’ve been beaming them to the Recovery Room, making sure they aren’t injured, and then putting them back in stasis in their alcoves,” Max said. 

“Sounds dangerous,” Elnor said quietly. He was staring out the viewscreen in horror and anger. 

“A few of us were hurt, but it was going pretty well when I left.” 

Hugh shook his head again, leaning against the Scout ship’s dash. “It’s been too long,” he sighed. “The rest of these have been without oxygen for too long already.” 

Max nodded. “You’re probably right, but we’ll get them all, take care of them right.” 

Hugh smiled at him through his tears and patted his cheek. “Yes, we will.” 

He turned and brushed past Sekis, moving all the way back to the transporter pad. It was impossible to be alone on such a small ship but he very much would have liked to at that moment. To Sekis’ credit, he didn’t follow even though Hugh knew he wanted to. He kept his back to the rest of them and silently wept. It was only when he felt his knees buckle and reached out for something to hold onto that he found Sekis’ hand. 

“I’m here,” was all his boyfriend said; no platitudes or false reassurances, only the comfort of his warm arms. 

Hugh took the invitation and collapses into them, taking heaving breaths as Sekis ran a hand through his dark hair. 

An hour later, the Scout ship landed in the shuttle bay of the Artifact. It was strange to see it empty of the Romulan ships that usually occupied it. Hugh had composed himself and while everything that had happened still felt like a gaping wound, he was glad to be back home, for what it was, glad to be able to start rebuilding. 

He felt Sekis take his hand and looked up at him with a smile as the landing ramp lowered onto the deck. An old friend was waiting for them, looking tired but determined, and even a little smug. 

“Annika!” Hugh called out. “Good to see you’re still here.” 

She smirked and crossed her arms. “Good to see you’re still alive.” 

“Rumors of my demise-” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled and waved it away. Then she glanced at Sekis and Elnor and nodded. 

The attempt to diffuse the tension didn’t last very long, though. “How many have you recovered?” Hugh asked. 

Seven winced. “We’ve saved seventy-five percent of the ones we beamed aboard. The rest had catastrophic injuries from the venting, more than we had the capacity to regenerate.” 

Sekis could tell she was holding back. “And what about the rest, the ones that are still out there?” 

She shook her head. “About half the drones-” She cut herself off at Hugh’s wince. “Half the...assimilated Borg are still in space. All the ones we’ve pulled in in the last half hour were already dead.” 

Hugh took a deep breath and nodded violently. “Beam them in anyway.” 

“You know it’s a waste of time and resources.” 

“Yes, I do,” Hugh said sharply. 

Seven nodded and then put a hand on his shoulder. “But we’ll do it anyway.” 

“Thank you.” They were all quiet for a moment and then he said, “You repaired the damage to the Artifact.” 

Seven smiled and nodded. “We should be fully operational soon.” 

“That’s good,” Sekis commented, and they all glanced at him curiously. “The Artifact’s sitting in Romulan space,” he pointed out. 

Hugh nodded. “And they might want to come back and claim it.” 

“It would be best to leave as soon as possible.” 

“That’s a great idea,” Seven agreed, “but where are we going to go?” 

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes,” Hugh said. “For now, let’s worry about getting things up and running again and get everyone taken care of.” With that, he and Sekis turned to walk away. 

“Just so we’re clear, this is your Cube now,” Seven called after them. 

Hugh turned back to her. “The Reclamation Project was always mine, but all of this...” He gestured around the room and shook his head. “I have no interest in being its Queen. This isn’t a Borg Cube anymore, it’s the Artifact. It’s going to take more than me to keep it running.” 

Sekis smiled. “You have me, you know.” 

“And me,” Elnor called out. 

“We could use all the help we can get,” Hugh added. 

Seven smirked again and finally nodded. “Fine,” she sighed. “For now.” 

Hugh grinned and then he and Sekis left to see what they’d missed while Elnor joined Seven in getting back to repairs. 

Hugh had rarely been off the Artifact in the sixteen years he was head of the Reclamation Project, and even then, he usually beamed in and out. Still, he knew exactly where he was going, just like he instinctively knew every other inch of the former Borg Cube. He led Sekis back to the working areas, giving the more dangerous parts a wide berth. 

“Now that the Artifact is repairing itself, and we’ve got assimilated Borg newly out of stasis, we’re going to have to cordon off these areas more securely,” Hugh stated. “It would be better if we got most of it back to how it was.” 

“Will it work?” Sekis asked. 

Hugh nodded as they passed a shifting wall of metallic cubes. “Now that Annika’s released them all, they should go back into stasis. We’re still cut off from the Collective. The Artifact will wait for instructions, and when it doesn’t get any, it’ll sit idle.” 

It was odd to see the Artifact in better shape than when they’d left it. The inhabited areas faired well, considering they could have been taken over by Borg tech. 

“Annika knew what she was doing,” Hugh remarked as they drew near to the Recovery Room. His heart was pounding, knowing what he would see. Unfortunately, his people hadn’t fared nearly as well. Before they could even reach the Recovery Room, they passed a smaller storage area that had, apparently, been converted into a makeshift morgue. 

Hugh stopped with a gasp, his eyes widening. “These are xBs,” he whispered. He rushed in and began checking pulses and wounds. “They were killed by disruptor fire.” 

Sekis followed him in and pulled his shaking body from the floor. “This is why Annika decided to become queen, remember?” 

Hugh thought back and nodded, composing himself once again. “Narissa,” he growled. Then he looked up into Sekis’ gentle eyes and took a deep breath. “I hate feeling this way,” he sighed. 

“I know. You spent your formative years among the Borg.” 

Hugh’s head rapidly tilted to the left and he blinked in confusion. 

Sekis took a breath as well and said, “You’re feeling angry. It’s not a nice emotion, and in time, it can be damaging to your mental and physical health, but in short spurts, it can be highly motivating, even helpful in accomplishing objectives. Just...don’t let it take over your life. Don’t let it change you.” 

“What if...I can’t control it? Will you help me with all this?” 

“Of course,” Sekis said with a smile and pulled him close. “These aren’t just your people anymore, these are our people.” He paused as Hugh nodded. “Oh no, you seem to have sprung a leak again,” he teased and wiped fresh tears from the xB’s cheeks. Then he smoothed the shoulders of Hugh’s shirt and said, “Alright, Mister Director?” 

Hugh nodded roughly and help up his chin. Under different circumstances, it would have made Sekis laugh. Then, the two of them closed the door to the storage area and walked on. 

They could hear the commotion from the Recovery Room before they got there. It was bustling with patients. What would normally be routine scar treatments or limb replacements had been taken over by life saving procedures and more than one station with fully assimilated Borg. 

“Doctor Kunamadéstifee,” Hugh exclaimed and then glanced around the room. With everything that had happened, he’d almost forgotten the Federation Scientists still on board. 

“Hugh,” she answered with a smile, though it still felt a bit strange to address her boss so informally. She’d only been on the Artifact for a couple of weeks and it had definitely not gone the way she’d planned. 

The other scientists, at least those not in the middle of life saving procedures, joined Naashala in coming over to greet Hugh. 

“For a while, we thought you were dead,” Naashala said. 

“So did I,” Hugh admitted light-heartedly. 

Naashala laughed and glanced up at Sekis’ not so amused face. “Too soon?” she asked. 

“Just a little,” Sekis answered but his voice was playful. 

“You must be exhausted,” Hugh said, loud enough for the others to hear. 

“We could definitely use a couple more sets of hands,” Naashala admitted. “There were a lot more Romulan doctors.” 

Sekis was already tired from the journey, and he worried about Hugh after his ordeal, but the two of them pitched in anyway. Before long, the room began to be overrun with dead Borg, though. The rest of the drifting drones had been without oxygen too long and the question of what to do with them began to nag. 

One of the xBs who’d been helping the scientists finally turned to Hugh and said, “In the Collective, they’d be reabsorbed.” 

Hugh frowned. “Yes, but we’re no long Borg.” 

“Then who are we?” 

Hugh thought for a moment and then smiled. “That’s for us to decide now. I understand what you’re trying to say, though.” 

“You do?” Sekis questioned. 

Hugh nodded. “There’s nothing wrong with the technology. It simply couldn’t sustain the parts of them that were organic.” 

“So, you think we should take the tech, like the Romulans did?” 

“No, not like the Romulans. We wouldn’t sell it, we would use it here, to sustain the Artifact wherever it’s needed. Maybe, in that way, we can honor them.” 

The xB nodded in approval and Sekis rubbed his chin, wrapping his brain around the concept. 

“Then we could give them all proper burials, even if it is in space,” Hugh added. 

“That almost seems fitting, really,” Sekis admitted. “Considering we don’t have a homeworld.” 

“Not yet,” Hugh said with a grin. 

“You’re going to be looking for a homeworld?” Naashala asked. 

“One thing at a time,” Hugh answered. 

By the time Hugh and Sekis went to bed that night, they could barely feel their legs, and they knew there were several more days of work ahead. A few times, Sekis had had to catch Hugh before he could collapse due to the residual effects of the spatial trajector. They decided to go back to Hugh’s place since it was the closest to the Recovery Room, and once there, fell into bed without another word. 

Luckily, they were both too tired for nightmares, but something else woke them in the middle of the night instead. 

“What is that?” Sekis said, sitting upright and almost falling off the bed. 

“The engines Hugh answered groggily. He groaned and sat up, pushing his floppy hair from his face. “I think they almost came on that time.” 

“Almost?” Sekis repeated in disbelief. “I almost toppled out of the bed. We were definitely moving.” 

“Well, we didn’t get very far.” He reached for his comm badge and said, “Annika, you can take a break now.” 

“I thought you wanted to get out of here as soon as possible,” came the annoyed answer. 

“It’s two o’clock in the morning!” Sekis cried. 

“It’s space. Time is just a construct here,” she teased. 

Sekis sighed and laid back down. 

“Let’s try again in the morning, alright,” Hugh told her and then laid back down too. 

The next morning, as the Federation scientists and some of the xBs continued their work in the Recovery and Operating rooms, Hugh and Sekis joined Elnor and Seven. 

“Did you two get any rest?” Hugh asked the exhausted looking pair. 

“Not really,” Seven said, punching at a couple of rectangular bricks in the wall. “I think the kid fell asleep after you called.” 

“I did,” Elnor admitted, sounding a little embarrassed. “But we think we’ve figured out what’s wrong.” 

“The Romulan’s stripping everything for parts and then changing the configuration is what’s wrong,” Seven growled. “The Cube-” 

“Artifact,” Hugh corrected. 

“The Artifact,” Seven said, lowly, clearly not in the mood, “repaired most of itself, but the Romulan’s did plenty of damage before they left. They’d installed their own interfaces. All of their crap needs removed before we can gain full access to the Borg controls.” 

Over the next couple of days, everyone on the Artifact was given a job to do, whether it was helping to clean up or helping with patients. Hugh prosided over multiple burials, and there were so many drones, that they had to be done en masse. Instead of making Hugh feel somber or angry, though, this time he had hope. The idea of reusing their tech was already helping others who’d been injured as well as to help fix broken replicators and expand the hydroponics system. Even though there were fewer mouths to feed with the Romulans gone, Sekis had suggested that real, fresh food, along with learning how to grow and cook it, would give the interested xBs skills and a purpose. 

Eventually, Hugh began to get nervous. He didn’t know where Picard’s mission had taken him, although they had gotten an incoming transmission about a massing Federation fleet, and he began to worry more and more that the Romulan’s would return at any moment. 

On the third day of stripping Romulan parts and trying to get the engines running, Hugh lay under a console, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. He’d been working on it all day, and on top of everything else, the environmental controls were acting up. Gone were his harness and tunic, exchanged for what was now a sweat soaked t-shirt. At least, lying on his back, his hair was staying out of his face. He hadn’t been able to get it under control for days either. 

He saw Sekis walk in and started to get to his feet, intending to admit defeat, but when he did, the floor moved below him, knocking him back to his knees. 

“We got it!” Elnor cried out from behind a panel somewhere. 

Hugh could feel the steady humming all around him and glanced over at Seven and Elnor as they stepped into the room, looking smug. Then he grinned up at Sekis, who walked over and helped him to his feet. His boyfriend pulled him close, and Hugh let out a squeak of surprise. 

“How about we get out of here?” Sekis murmured, and Hugh wasn’t sure if he meant out of Romulan space or to somewhere more private. 

Before he could answer, though, Elnor called out, “Let’s go!” 

“Where to?” Sekis asked Hugh.


End file.
